As I mentioned last month, God is really wanting me to step up my game for Him.After His initial question to me (Why are you acting like a newbie when you’re a veteran of the faith?) He began directing me towards what living the life of a veteran looks like and means for me.First off, He has placed some amazing women in my life through Celebrate Recovery and I call them amazing because they seem to be veterans of the faith when in reality most of them are the real newbies.They have their focus on helping others and on walking and talking a real and tangible faith in Christ.It is through these women that God is helping me understand what it is He is calling me to do with my life.I always knew that Jacksonville was training or as God put it preparation. And while I may not be entirely sure as to what I am preparing for I can say it must be ministry related.Personally, I am really making an effort to be more outwardly focused.I mean if I want to be one of those people who changes the energy in the room or brightens someone’s day, I can’t be engrossed in my own pity party now can I?I mean if I am all caught up in me and too busy in my own head then I am unable to interact with those around me. Trust me when I say that I know what it is like to be around people who drain the energy out of the room without even saying a word and the truth is when I am attending my own pity party I am that person.Now this does not mean that I do not allow myself to feel the hurt, disappointment or loneliness that I am feeling.It means that I acknowledge my feelings and then get back to the world around me.One of the women in my CR recently gave her testimony and in her testimony she said something that God used to knock me over the head.She was discussing the energy we addicts put into our addiction and how most of the time we don’t even put a fraction of that energy into our recovery.The night she spoke this into me, my own personal monster was awake and I was very aware of my monster’s demands.I was not me that night, I was my addiction.Her words brought me back though because I immediately thought about how there was no distance too great, no price to high and no inconvenience when it came to me and my bottle.However, when it comes to anything else in life I find that the distance is almost always too great, the price almost always too high and the inconvenience almost always absurd. And you know what?I especially find this to be true when it comes to God, church and the people He brings into my life for which I have no doubt are there because He is hoping I will step up for Him in their life. Ouch!I mean God went to the expense of His only Son for me so there really shouldn’t be anything too inconvenient for me to do for Him.Personally, there are many things in my life that I need to do better and I am trying to tackle them one by one.For starters, I am working on keeping my word (aka not backing out at the last minute because of fear, not feeling good or any idea that comes into my head) and I am putting a lot of energy into being on time for work, church and all the other appointments one has in life.I am also working on taking better care of myself by eating better, getting more sleep, exercising more and obeying those moments when my soul says it needs a minute or four. I am also making an effort to be more social at CR and at church.I need to be reaching out to new faces, being the person to say hello instead of waiting for someone to say hello to me, in other words, I need to start taking the lead and I am focusing on doing just that with every church I visit and every CR I attend.These may seem like small matters, but they shape who I am and how I see myself and they are also small details that veterans practice everyday.

Happy Easter to all of you or as I like to call it... Happy New Life Day. Christ died the worst death possible so that He could conquer the worst humanity could muster...We were His end game. He endured it all so that we could have new life in Him... so that we don't have to stay in the hole we've managed to dig for ourselves no matter how giant that hole might be... :)